money We're 'enabling consumers to better shop with their intention': Founder of beauty marketplace of BIPOC-owned brands
Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. And when cultural entrepreneur Chana Ewing saw that there was a void for consumers looking for beauty products from business owners of color, she created GEENIE, an online marketplace where consumers can shop Black, indigenous, LGBTQ+ and women-owned beauty brands.
At GEENIE, inclusivity and intersectionality are at the forefront of the company’s mission. “We’re putting all of those values into one space and enabling consumers to better shop with their intention,” Ewing told Yahoo Finance’s “On the Move.”
Beauty enthusiasts come to not only shop with a purpose but also to purchase products from small indie curators that have similar beliefs and values. “These indie [direct-to-consumer] brands, we're helping them better utilize their marketing investment by becoming this discovery platform and enabling them to meet consumers who are interested in their value propositions,” Ewing says.
But Ewing’s GEENIE isn’t just for people of color. Ewing says the demographic that has reached out to her site is diverse. “So of the folks who have applied to the community so far, about 43% are Black folks, about 33% are white folks, and then we have about 10% of mixed race, and I think it's like ... 8.99% Asian, and about 5% LatinX.”
Ewing sees this time in history as an advantage for her brand. “There's been an uptick in the amount of spreadsheets that have gone around that are listing black own products and listing black indigenous PLC owned products and saying, ‘Well, here's 100 brands that you can support’ and ‘Here's the 50 brands that you can support in beauty or in lifestyle’ or what have you.” She went on to say, “We see in this moment, it'll be super easy for folks to come in and find products that are a little bit more curated that are a little bit more tailored. And they don't have to like wade through long lists in order to find things that meet their own values”.
Pamela Mitchell is a producer at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @pamelamitchell.
Read more:
Angel investor: Protests shed light on why 'black founders matter' in startups, business
'We don't have enough good labor force': homebuilder founder
Rebecca Minkoff on VC funding for women: 'It's going to get worse before it gets better'
'Chasing ghosts': Why it's so hard to stop robocalls
Why the Under Armour brand is in crisis
Top beauty influencer Huda Kattan: People incorrectly ‘assume it’s easy’
